Appalachian State 61, Samford 53
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.- Appalachian State University women's basketball was able to withstand a second-half surge by Samford and complete its first-ever season sweep of the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon, as the Apps defeated their SoCon foe 61-53 at the Pete Hanna Center. ASU has now won 10 games in a row and ends Samford's seven-game winning streak, to improve to 20-4 on the season and 14-4 and in league play, while the Bulldogs fall to 19-7 and 12-7 in conference action.
Samford was able to come within as close as four points thanks in part to two straight three-pointers and two made free throws by Paige Anderson, and Appalachian State saw its once double-digit lead diminish, clinging to a 53-49 lead with a little over two minutes left to play.
Anderson finished as Samford's leading scorer with 17 points.
Holding onto its four-point advantage, Samford began to foul, sending Canesha Edwards, Sam Ramirez and Ashlen Dewart all to the free throw line under the one-minute mark.
Thankfully, all three were perfect at the charity stripe, going 8-8, and the Apps pushed past the Bulldogs for the eight-point win,
Ramirez was unstoppable in the contest, as she poured in a game-best 18 points, on 5-11 shooting, including grabbing four rebounds and swiping three steals.
Opening minutes of play were heated and intense between the Mountaineers and Bulldogs as action was knotted twice before the 13-minute mark of the first half.
However the first period was tied for the final time at eight apiece, as the Black and Gold posted an 11-0 run and held Samford to without a field goal for a five minute stretch, to take a commanding 19-8 lead.
Appalachian's offense was evenly distributed, with five different Mountaineers contributing on the offensive front.
The Bulldogs tried to answer draining back-to-back three-pointers, but ASU outscored Samford 13-4 in the closing five and half minutes before the half, to head into intermission up 33-18.
Appalachian's stifling defense rattled Samford, forcing the Bulldogs to cough up the ball 18 times in the opening 20 minutes, with the Black and Gold also grabbing 10 first-half steals, as Anna Freeman recorded half of them.
Freeman was a spark for the Apps as well, scoring 12 points, tallying seven steals and totaling four rebounds.
Entering the second-half strong, Samford went on a 10-0 scoring spurt, to pull within seven points, making the score 35-28 with a little under 14 minutes remaining.
It was the senior duo of Savannah Hill and Emily London leading the way for the Bulldogs, as the two scored all of Samford's points during the run, including draining two treys.
Able to somewhat quiet Hill and London, the preseason all-conference selections, the duo combined for just 20 points in the game.
Ramirez however answered for Appalachian, drilling a trey and teammate Ashlen Dewart followed suit, chipping in four points as well to push Appalachian's advantage back out to 12.
Dewart also capped off the game in double-figures as she had 16 points, while recording a team-best eight rebounds.
Samford however would not give up, and the game went down to the wire, but the Apps were clutch at the free throw and were able to withstand Samford's second-half charge to seal the win.
The suffocating Mountaineer defense continued to wreak havoc on Samford, as the Bulldogs ended the game with a season-high 30 turnovers, and Appalachian scored 29 points off the Bulldogs miscues.
Looking to close out its final regular-season road trip with a win, the Mountaineers travel to Chattanooga in search of its first victory at Chattanooga since 1998. ASU will battle its bitter conference foe, Monday, February 14 at 7 p.m. in the Lady Mocs' McKenzie Arena.
Furman 65, Western Carolina 49
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Kaitlin Oberg registered the first double-double of her career, scoring 10 points and claiming 14 rebounds, to power Furman past Western Carolina, 65-49, in Southern Conference women's basketball play Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
With the win Furman (11-14, 7-9 SoCon) snapped a 14-game series losing streak to Western Carolina (6-19, 4-12 SoCon) and improved to 10-2 at home this season under first year head coach Jackie Carson. A year ago the Paladins posted a 3-10 ledger in Timmons Arena on the way to 7-24 campaign - the worst in program history.
The triumph also moved Furman into seventh place in the SoCon standings, a half game ahead of Davidson. The Paladins were a preseason last place pick (11th) in a poll of league coaches.
Oberg's double-double, coming in only her second career start, also featured five blocks. The 6-foot-2 senior's strong presence in the paint contributed significantly to a Paladin defense that limited Western Carolina to just 27.7 percent shooting from the field (18-of-65), including just 19.4 percent (6-for-31) in the first half.
Kaitlin Murphy paced all scorers with 15 points and game high seven assists, and Kendra Berry rounded out Furman's double figure scoring trio with 11 points, which she combined with eight rebounds.
Caitlin Hollified's 11 points led Western Carolina, which dropped its eight straight game.
The Paladins connected on 18-of-47 field goal attempts (38.3 percent) and doubled up the Catamounts at the free throw line, converting 24-of-32 opportunities. Furman also fashioned a 49-36 rebounding advantage, solidifying the squad's position as the No. 2 rebounding team in the SoCon after finishing last in the league a year ago.
Furman led from start to finish, grabbing an early 11-2 advantage on the strength of 3-pointers by Murphy and O'Connor.
The Paladins led 33-17 at intermission and 49-29 following a Murphy 3-pointer with 10:12 to go.
Furman cleared its bench over the last five minutes of the contest. One of the substitutions included junior forward Lashana Booker from Spartanburg, S.C., who tallied three points in completing her comeback from two torn Achilles tendons that sidelined her for the entire 2009-10 campaign and first 24 games this season.
Furman wraps up its season long six-game home stand on Monday when it takes on Elon in a 7:00 p.m. game.
Elon 73, Wofford 60
ELON, N.C. - The Elon University women's basketball team clinched its first winning season since the 2003-04 season on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 12, as the Phoenix topped the Wofford Terriers 73-60 inside Alumni Gym to improve to 16-9 (10-6 Southern Conference) on the year.
The victory also marks head coach Karen Barefoot's 11th winning season in 13 years as a head coach, as the Phoenix equaled their win total from the previous two seasons combined with the victory over Wofford (7-16, 3-12 SoCon). With the win, the Phoenix also improves to 10-0 this season when it scores 70 or more points.
Ali Ford recorded her ninth game this season with 20 or more points, as the Morganton, N.C. native registered a game-high 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field, including two makes from beyond the arc. Ford has now tallied 926 career points in only her second season.
Rookie Kelsey Harris had a career day for the Phoenix, scoring 12 points on just one field goal attempt after sinking 10-of-12 shots from the free throw line. Harris also dished out five assists and grabbed five boards, while tallying four steals.
Elon committed just 13 turnovers in the victory, while forcing the Terriers into 25 as a team. The Phoenix scored 19 points off 25 Wofford miscues and tallied 22 second-chance points in the win. The Elon bench outscored its counterparts, 25-19, as Julie Taylor and Candice Silas led the Phoenix reserves with nine and eight points, respectively.
Elon shot 44.9 percent from the field and 80 percent (12-of-15) from the free throw line in the victory.
Elon went into the locker room at intermission ahead just one point, 31-30, as the Terriers shot a blistering 50 percent from the field on 12-of-24 field goal attempts and held an 18-11 edge on the glass.
But the Phoenix capitalized on Wofford miscues early and often in the second half, taking a seven-point advantage with 14:22 left to play after a Kelly Blake turnover led to a Harris steal and easy basket for Silas to give Elon a 45-38 lead.
The Terriers never came any closer than four points from that point forward, as the Phoenix went up by as many as 14 points in the second half to secure the victory.
With only four regular season games remaining, the Phoenix now shuffles off to Greenville, S.C. on Monday night, Feb. 14, for its fourth game in seven days when it faces Furman. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside Timmons Arena.
UNCG 76, College of Charleston 64 (OT)
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Amanda Leigh went off for a career-high 30 points, Sarah Folwell hit a tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation to force overtime and the Spartans picked up a 76-64 win over College of Charleston in front of a school-record crowd Saturday in their annual Pink Zone contest.
Leigh was practically unstoppable for the Spartans (13-12, 10-7 Southern Conference), scoring all 30 of her points after halftime. She had 21 in the second half and nine in the extra period.
With UNCG trailing 60-57 in the final seconds of regulation, senior Monique Floyd found Folwell all alone on the wing. Folwell drained the tying 3 with 2.1 seconds left, bringing the raucous crowd of 713 - the largest ever for a women's game at Fleming Gymnasium - to its feet.
From there, it was all Spartans. Breonna Patterson hit a jumper from the free throw line just seconds into overtime, and Leigh hit a 3, two free throws and a layup in succession for her own 7-0 run.
Janae' Stevenson would add a conventional three-point play and Leigh would get an easy fastbreak layup on a CofC miss to make it a 14-0 spurt to open overtime.
College of Charleston (7-18, 4-12 SoCon) would not get on the board in the extra session until just 1:08 remained, as Jillian Brown hit both ends of a one-and-one. After another Stevenson layup, Megan Fischer got a layup to go on the other end with 13 seconds left for the Cougars' lone field goal in overtime.
It was an exciting finish for the Spartans, who trailed by as many as 10 early in the second half. The Cougars were up 38-30 less than 2 minutes into the second half before Leigh got her first bucket of the game, but it seemed to be just the thing she needed to get going.
Her first 3-pointer followed shortly thereafter, and she added another to cut it to five at 45-40 with 13:39 left. She followed that up with a jumper to make it a one-possession game, but the Cougars' Janae Smith and Alyssa Frye answered with consecutive baskets to make it a seven-point game at 49-42.
That was when Leigh really caught fire, as she sandwiched a pair of 3s around a Smith jumper to make it a three-point game again. Leigh hit a pair of free throws to cut it to one, then added two more with just over 6 minutes remaining to give UNCG its first lead of the day, 52-51.
The teams would trade the lead over the next few minutes, and Tonia Gerty's 3-pointer with 55 seconds left put the Cougars on top 58-56.
A Stevenson free throw got the Spartans back within a point, but UNCG was forced to foul to stop the clock. Fischer hit both ends of a one-and-one with 15.9 seconds left to make it a three-point game, setting up Folwell's heroics at the end of regulation.
Stevenson finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, matching the career high in boards that she set just two days prior at Elon. The double-double was the third of her career. Floyd, who was honored prior to the game for reaching the 1,000-point plateau for her career this season, scored 10 Saturday against the Cougars.
Leigh became UNCG's first 30-point scorer in nearly 11 years, as the last Spartan to hit the mark was Brianne Dodgen against Chattanooga on March 2, 2000. She had 32 in that contest.
Smith had 23 for CofC, while Gerty had 13 before fouling out in the last minute of regulation. Smith had 12 rebounds to finish with a double-double of her own.
Coincidentally, the Spartans were playing an overtime game for the first time since Feb. 14, 2009, which was also a Pink Zone contest for UNCG. The Spartans fell to Western Carolina that day, 66-58.
As part of its Pink Zone initiative this year, UNCG raised $386.86 through donations and ticket sales, all of which will go toward breast cancer research.
UNCG has the next week off before returning to host Chattanooga on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. That contest will serve as Senior Day for Leigh, Floyd and Kendra Smith, and will also be UNCG's Pack the House game, with a new attendance goal to try to break.
Chattanooga 91, Davidson 70
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Bailey Dewart put up career numbers Saturday night at the McKenzie Arena to lead the Lady Mocs to a 91-70 win over Davidson in Southern Conference women's basketball action.
The Lady Mocs top the .500 mark for the first time this season with the win improving to 13-12 overall and 10-6 in league play. The Wildcats fall to 11-14 overall and 6-10 against SoCon opponents.
Chattanooga jumped out quickly to an 11-2 start and went 5-for-5 from the floor that included a pair of 3-pointers from Dewart to take a 15-8 lead getting the 2,204 fans cheering early and often. The Lady Mocs led by as much as nine in the first half, but the Wildcats weren't going down without a fight and managed to get to within three at the halfway mark of the period.
Chattanooga went 1-for-8 over the next four minutes with Davidson on a 8-2 run to cut the lead to 19-16 with 11:06 remaining in the opening stanza. UTC responded, however, with an 8-2 run of its own to get back on top 27-18 over the next two minutes. Davidson hung in and the Lady Mocs led 37-31 at halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Mocs opened up with a 12-4 advantage to take a 49-35 lead with 16:38 to play. Chattanooga continued to push the Wildcats and expanded its lead to as much as 23 points on a 3-pointer from junior Tenisha Townsend at the 11:07 mark to give Chattanooga a 70-47 lead.
Moore sat Dewart and junior Whitney Hood with 10:30 to play and the Lady Mocs went on to record their 13th win of the season.
Hood shared the team-high scoring with Dewart putting in 16 points of her own on 7-of-9 shooting and had seven boards. They led five players in double figures for UTC that included 13 points from Townsend who had three 3-pointers and four assists, 12 points from sophomore Kylie Lambert who went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and dished out three assists. They were joined by freshman Taylor Hall who went 5-of-7 from the field and had a career-high 11 points, scoring in double-figures for the first time this season.
The Lady Mocs will take on league leader Appalachian State Monday night and bid farewell to senior managers Courtney Berg and Ross Jolly as well as graduate assistant manager Michael Scruggs. Dewart, who will graduate in the summer, will participate in the festivities as she plays her final regular season home game at the roundhouse.
Senior Night activities will take place prior to the game that is set to tip off at 7 p.m. The Lady Mocs will also be celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness with its annual "Pink Zone" game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to show their support in the fight against the second leading cause of death among women.